New Director-General for WTO
In the news today, Pascal Lamy of France has prevailed over candidates from developing countries to become the next director general of the WTO.
There is concern that this might worsen the growing rift between developed and developing countries in the WTO. In particular, developing countries worry that someone from a developed country with powerful agricultural interests would be unlikely to do much in the way of cutting back agricultural subsidies, which often spur overproduction and depress prices for crops, making it difficult for developing countries to compete.
